Sorry about this result but Ferrer will be back, says Rafael Nadal after Mexican Open win

Updated: 03 March 2013 12:25 IST

Nadal missed seven months with a left knee injury before making his comeback in the Latin American clay court season. On Saturday, he beat the three-time defending champion David Ferrer in just 65 minutes.

Written by Associated Press

Read Time: 2 mins

Acapulco, Mexico:

Rafael Nadal blasted past top seed and defending champion David Ferrer 6-0, 6-2 in Saturday's final of the Mexican Open in a powerful performance that indicated he has quickly returned to near his best after a long-term knee injury.

Ferrer was a three-time defending champion and had won 19 straight matches in this event, but he could find no answer to Nadal, losing to his Spanish compatriot in just one hour and five minutes.

Nadal surprised himself with the one-sided victory.

"I did not do anything wrong today, I had a great match, almost perfect," Nadal said. "I would have never imagined playing at the level that I played today, I'm leaving happy and surprised.

"I played a great match against one of the top players in the world, a specialist in clay who did not look like himself out there, he had a bad day. I am sorry about this result but I know Ferrer will be back and I consider him one of the great players of today," Nadal said of the world number four and top seed, who won the title in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Nadal missed seven months with a left knee injury before making his comeback in the Latin American clay court season.

He has played three tournaments: making the final but surprisingly losing to Horacio Zeballos in Chile, taking out the Brasil Open by beating David Nalbandian and now cruising past Ferrer for his 38th clay title. Seven of those 38 have been against Ferrer.

So well had his knee stood up that Nadal was ready to test it on the more jarring hardcourt surface at the upcoming Indian Wells tournament after an exhibition appearance at Madison Square Garden.

"Indian Wells is one of my favorite tournaments and I want to keep competing because the knee is holding up and my heart says that I can do it, and compete is what I want to do now," Nadal said.

"Those seven months are in the past, hopefully forever. I played like that did not happened, but it did happen."

The 11-time major champion broke Ferrer five times from eight opportunities, winning 58 per cent of his return points. He improved his record against Ferrer to 17-4.

Ferrer had successfully defended titles already this year at Auckland and Buenos Aires but was not able to make it four straight Mexican Opens.